Before we arrived on the East Coast, Lal had told us that he had a very serious situation to show us. Just outside his village of Kayankerny, a widow was living—‘camping’ would be a better way to describe it—in the most appalling circumstances. The photo shows her ‘home’. Rubble for a floor, a broken tarpaulin for a covering—no proper shelter at all. Although there had recently been an unseasonably dry period, it was monsoon time. We could not imagine what the conditions would be like then. A small pathetic pile of school books and little school shoes would immediately be soaked as soon as the rain came.

The last 6 weeks have been the hottest of the year in Tamil Nadu and the children have been enjoying their school summer holidays. Nine of them stayed with us at the Home as they are effectively orphans and the others went to relatives for some or all of the time.

” Thank you to all our readers for your terrific response to the recent appeal in our Newsletter “

You have sent us enough to begin the construction of the house for the children in South India, and the foundations were started after a little ceremony at the beginning of May. Boring at the site found good water at 90 feet and we have completed the well down to 300 feet (see photos).

Our children are helping as ‘building labourers’ during their school summer holiday this month.

I have recently returned from a very rewarding visit to Sri Lanka and India, with my colleague and co-founder of Star Action, Stuart.

We try to visit Sri Lanka twice a year, if possible, but certainly each February, so we can personally check on the progress of all the up and running projects and oversee the initiation of new endeavours. This visit has been very fruitful and I am particularly excited about our new community education project in the remote and formerly war-torn East Coast village of Mankerny, and also our ‘build a toilet’ scheme in a very poor fishing community on the West Coast.